Leonardo drew the famous Vitruvian man, based on the work of Pollo Vitruvius. This drawing depicts some of the relationships in length between different aspects of the human body.
You might like to have your students use measuring tools such as string or tape measures to confirm some of the following assertions (excerpted from http://www.davincithevilla.com/vitruvproportions.htm). Note that some of these involve some difficult fractions and may be unsuitable.
- a palm is the width of four fingers
- a foot is the width of four palms
- a cubit (from your elbow to the tip of your longest finger) is the width of six palms
- a pace is four cubits
- a person's height is four cubits (and thus 24 palms)
- the length of a person's outspread arms (arm span) is equal to his height
- the distance from the hairline to the bottom of the chin is one-tenth of a man's height
- the distance from the top of the head to the bottom of the chin is one-eighth of a man's height
- the distance from the bottom of the neck to the hairline is one-sixth of a man's height
- the distance from the middle of the chest to the top of the head is a quarter of a man's height
- the distance from the elbow to the tip of the hand is a quarter of a man's height
- the length of the hand is one-tenth of a man's height
- the distance from the bottom of the chin to the nose is one-third of the length of the head
- the distance from the hairline to the eyebrows is one-third of the length of the face
- the length of the ear is one-third of the length of the face
- the length of a man's foot is one-sixth of his height
You might like to have your students use measuring tools such as string or tape measures to confirm some of the following assertions (excerpted from http://www.davincithevilla.com/vitruvproportions.htm). Note that some of these involve some difficult fractions and may be unsuitable.
- a palm is the width of four fingers
- a foot is the width of four palms
- a cubit (from your elbow to the tip of your longest finger) is the width of six palms
- a pace is four cubits
- a person's height is four cubits (and thus 24 palms)
- the length of a person's outspread arms (arm span) is equal to his height
- the distance from the hairline to the bottom of the chin is one-tenth of a man's height
- the distance from the top of the head to the bottom of the chin is one-eighth of a man's height
- the distance from the bottom of the neck to the hairline is one-sixth of a man's height
- the distance from the middle of the chest to the top of the head is a quarter of a man's height
- the distance from the elbow to the tip of the hand is a quarter of a man's height
- the length of the hand is one-tenth of a man's height
- the distance from the bottom of the chin to the nose is one-third of the length of the head
- the distance from the hairline to the eyebrows is one-third of the length of the face
- the length of the ear is one-third of the length of the face
- the length of a man's foot is one-sixth of his height